Wednesday, December 29, 2010

-Henrik Lundqvist stopped a season-high, 43 shots, including all 20 shots faced in the second period, improving to 16-12-2 overall, including a 11-6-0 mark on the road. He is now 8-4-1 with a 1.83 goals against average, a .932 save percentage and three shutouts in his last 14 games, and is tied for the league lead with 11 road wins. Lundqvist is now 21-7-5 with a 1.80 goals against average in 33 career regular season games vs. the Devils, and improved to 19-4-5 with a 1.69 goals against average and .939 save percentage in 28 career regular season games against Martin Brodeur.

Lundqvist stopped all 20 shots he faced in the second period, helping the Rangers turn a 1-1 tie into a 2-1 advantage by the time 40 minutes of hockey had been played. With calm precision, Lundqvist stared down shots from all angles and all areas of the ice as the Devils fired away without hesitation in the middle stanza.

“When you play a team like this that’s been struggling you can tell they’re going to try and create things by throwing pucks at you from everywhere,” said Lundqvist, whose 43 saves on Wednesday were a season-high. “I think they played pretty well, but you can tell they’re lacking in confidence a little bit with the last part, scoring goals.”

“It was not our best game, but we battled and we just found a way to win this game,” said Lundqvist. “It was great to see. And we’ve had a few wins this year where we weren’t playing our best, but we worked really hard and found ways to win.”

UPDATE: Thanks to DJ from seanavery.net for fixing the upside down photos!

Thanks to reader Anders, I have the photos of Henrik from the January issue of King Magazine. These were taken by iPhone and not scanned, but they will do for now. The only problem is I couldn't flip the upside down ones right side up. If possible, would anyone from Sweden be willing to ship me the magazine? (I would pay you through Paypal). Once again, thank you goes out to Anders for the photos.

ShareThisHenrik Lundqvist, 18-4-5 lifetime against Martin Brodeur and 20-7-5 for his career against the Devils, is finding this a little hard to believe."At the start of the year, I thought they were going to be a top team like they always are, but I guess you can't expect that to be forever," said the Rangers' goaltender, who tonight in New Jersey is expected to make his 28th straight start against the Devils dating back to Jan. 2, 2007. "I certainly didn't expect this."They've been one of the best teams in the league for my whole career, and that's always been one of the challenges when we play them, going up to their level and sometimes making adjustments in the way we play.

"My approach is the same no matter what, but as a team, I think we're good enough to focus on what we do and should feel confident enough in our own game not to adjust to New Jersey . . . or any top team we play."

Monday, December 27, 2010

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-Henrik Lundqvist made 18 saves to improve to 15-12-2 overall, including a 5-6-2 mark at MSG. He is now 8-4-1 with a 1.89 goals against average, a .929 save percentage and three shutouts in his last 13 games.

From the Blueshirts Blog:

Henrik Lundqvist, who allowed a couple of soft goals to Rob Schremp and P.A. Parenteau in a span of 1:52 in the first period, admitted that he felt rusty after not having played since Thursday.

“I knew coming into the game it would take me a little bit to get comfortable,” Lundqvist said. “Being off for a few days and eating a lot of Swedish meatballs, that’s what happens.”

ShareThisThanks to a tip on Twitter, I have been alerted to the fact that Henrik is on the cover of the January 2011 issue of King Magazine of Sweden. So far, I only have this photo of the cover. King Magazine's website doesn't have an article or photos up yet, but as soon as they do become available I will post them. However, since I am not positive that the full article and photos will become available I would like to ask if any of my Swedish readers who have a copy of the magazine can perhaps scan the article and photos for me (and translate it?) and I will post them here. I will give you full credit. If possible, I would love to buy the magazine myself but I don't think it's available in the U.S. If anyone knows where I can find a copy in NYC or online, please let me know. Thank you in advance.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Thursday, December 23, 2010

ShareThis-Henrik Lundqvist stopped 21 of 24 shots through regulation and overtime, and turned aside eight of 11 shootout attempts, and is now 14-12-2 overall with a 4-6-2 mark at home. He is now 7-4-1 with a 1.88 goals against average, a .931 save percentage and three shutouts in his last 12 games. Lundqvist is 31-22 with a .751 save percentage in 53 career shootouts.

Friday, December 17, 2010

The Rangers’ locker room has a new feature - on each side of the room, above the lockers, is the slogan, “Everyone wants to win… Not everyone is willing to prepare to win,” inscribed in capital letters.

“A couple guys really liked the quote,” Lundqvist said. “Now we have it up there on the wall. I think it’s really good. If you ask anybody in the league, ‘Do you want to win?’ Of course you want to win. But it takes a lot out of you, and out of the team to win. You have to prepare, and you have to work hard, and you have to pay a price to win. That’s what it means.”

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

-Henrik Lundqvist stopped 27 shots to improve to 14-11-1 overall, including a record of 10-5-0 on the road. He is now 7-3-0 with a 1.58 goals against average, a .940 save percentage and three shutouts in the last 10 games. Lundqvist now leads the NHL with 10 road wins.

Henrik on the loss of Ryan Callahan:

“We’ve gone through it with other players and now we’ll have to go through it again,” Lundqvist said of Callahan’s injury. “There’s not much we can do about it. It’s part of the game and we just have to accept it and keep working hard.”

on the win:

"It's a great win in a lot of ways," Lundqvist said. "We win because we stick to the system, we don't take chances, we believe that we can come back in this game. Once we got the first one, we just kept going. Great team effort."

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

In honor of Sweden's St. Lucia Day, New York Ranger Henrik Lundqvist was on hand at the very Nordic opening of the Eton of Sweden Flagship Store.

Henrik also attended the Paul McCartney concert at The Apollo Theater last night. I'll post more photos if/when they become available.

UPDATE: Henrik explains Santa Lucia Day

From the Wall Street Journal:

Beyond promises of lingonberry leaves and angelic singers was the intended presence of hockey player Henrik Lundqvist, who apparently enjoys traditional merriment as much as he appreciates an Eton button-down.

"So here's the deal," Mr. Lundqvist said. "You start celebrating this in kindergarten. Ten girls come in white, one with candles in her hair. Maybe it's a crown made of candles. And they walk around singing Christmas songs in the morning. It happens in schools, in shopping malls. And then at night, it's a big party for youngsters. It's an old holiday. You'd probably have to Google the exact reason why they do it." Did Mr. Lundqvist have any special memories of said holiday?

He pulled this "Brady Bunch"-inspired anecdote out of his black suit: "I was probably 8. I remember my older sister was the Lucia in school. She had her hair cut a few days before, and it turned out that they cut it way too short and she was upset." Sounds juicy. What happened next? "She got over it."

Sunday, December 12, 2010

ShareThis•Henrik Lundqvist turned aside 31 shots to post his fifth shutout of the season, and 29th of his career, and improved to 13-11-1 overall with a 4-6-1 mark at home. He is now 6-3-0 with a 1.64 goals against average, a .937 save percentage and three shutouts in the last nine games. Lundqvist’s five shutouts are tied for first in the NHL.

From Rangers Report:

Henrik Lundqvist:

“Against this team, you’re never safe, even after we scored the fourth and the fifth. You’re never safe against this team. They get one goal. maybe two quick ones, and it’s a game. So it’s very important that we kept going and didn’t relax. It was a good feeling when we got the sixth goal.”

On how quickly he put Columbus behind him:

“Probably during the day today. It really bothered me last night. I was really frustrated and disappointed. I was happy that they put me in today again so I can get it out of my system and focus on this one. Sometimes when I’m upset with myself I use it as energy and go on to the next game. This was the answer I was looking for: A solid game, and the guys played great in front of me.

“I think they saw how upset I was yesterday and it was a good feeling for me to respond this way. They’ve been great all year, and especially lately, the way they’ve been playing defensively. So it was no surprise to me the way they worked the last 10 minutes. The whole game they played so hard. So it’s great to be a goalie when you have guys like that.”

Thursday, December 9, 2010

-Henrik Lundqvist stopped 24 of 27 shots to improve to 12-10-1 on the season, including a 9-4-0 mark on the road. He is 5-2-0 with a 1.67 goals against average, a .938 save percentage and two shutouts in his last seven games. Lundqvist is now tied for the league lead with nine road wins this season.

From The Blueshirts Blog:

The Rangers caught a break in the second period when Fisher beat Henrik Lundqvist just 25 seconds after Fedotenko had tied the game off a slick feed from Marian Gaborik.

Everyone in the building thought that Fisher had given the Senators the lead, but the officials conferred and went to the video review, which showed that the puck never crossed the goal line, deflecting off the post and out.

“I thought it was a goal because they celebrated,” Lundqvist said. “They looked so sure. I was going for a glove save, and then I decided at the last second to use my head, and it hit the side of my helmet and went down. It wasn’t the best decision, but it was still a save. Apparently it was a save.”

Fisher got his second goal of the night a little later on in the second period, but after Christensen tied the game in the third, Lundqvist made up for it with a glove save to rob Fisher of a hat trick.

Forbes.com released their list of the best dressed athletes and two Rangers made the cut - forward Sean Avery and goaltender Henrik Lundqvist.

The stylish duo were the only NHL players that made the list of 15 athletes that included the likes of NBA poster boys LeBron James and Dwayne Wade, pin-up quarterback Tom Brady and soccer superstar David Beckham.

Lundqvist says the honour was a pleasant surprise.

"I'll put up the article in the locker room to feel good about myself," the stylish Swedish netminder told TSN. "It's fun."

Lundqvist admits that his teammates don't necessarily share his fashion sense, but he's trying his best to open their eyes to the concept of dressing well."This team is a lot about comfort," said Lundqvist. "They show up at the rink in soft sweat pants and T-shirts. I try to get them in shirts and nice coats maybe game days it works, but not practice days so we have a couple more steps to go."

He does say that the Rangers fashion sense in general has improved during his stint in New York.

"It's been a process but a lot of the guys have improved over the years. It's good to see."

When asked to compare his style to Avery's, Lundqvist said his upbringing in Sweden had a lot to do with his personal style but he admits that the brash forward has a distinct look."Maybe I'm a little bit more European in my style," said Lundqvist. "More tight fitted jeans and shirts and boots. He's got good style I have to give them that."

Avery made headlines two years ago when he took a summer internship at Vogue magazine. The self-confessed clothes horse, who also writes a style column for AskMen.com, told People Magazine at the time how much he enjoyed the experience of working in the fashion industry.

"I was surrounded by some of the greatest minds in American fashion and in the world," Avery said.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=344842

Henrrik LundqvistGoalie, New York Rangers

This dashing Swedish goalie is easily the National Hockey League's most elegant dresser. Lundqvist never wears T-shirts, likes skinny ties and counts Dior, Hugo Boss and Tiger of Sweden among his favorite brands. Teammates have admitted they are a bit baffled by his "European" style and "tight pants."

Monday, December 6, 2010

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predsrock2: ...So far only Lundqvist has been awesome to the fans outside the hotel in Nashville.

I found the above Tweet the day the Rangers (obviously) played the Predators in Nashville. I waited until today to post it because I wanted to include these photos with it. As the following photos show, Henrik is indeed awesome to his fans.

Disclaimer: All of these photos were found at public sites; however, if you are in any of the fan photos and you would like me to remove a photo for you, do not hesitate to tell me as I will surely take it down for you. Also, as always if you would like to submit a photo of yourself and Henrik to the blog do not hesitate to e-mail me or post the photo on The Henrik Lundqvist Blog Facebook page.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

•Henrik Lundqvist stopped 22 of 24 shots and is now 11-10-1 on the season, including a 3-6-1 mark at home. Lundqvist has posted a 4-2-0 record with a 1.45 goals against average, a .946 save percentage and two shutouts in the last six games.

From The Blueshirts Blog:

“We worked ourselves back into this game in the second period,” Lundqvist said. “It could have gone either way. We had a couple of chances to bury it. It is always tough when you give up a late goal like that. … The good part was that we really responded after the first. We needed to play better and we did. It was a pretty wide open game in the third.”Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/rangers/#ixzz17ISOLPy6

Lundqvist, the Rangers’ most solid and consistent contributor on Sunday, finished with 22 saves, including 10 in the opening period.

“That late goal is a tough one because we feel like we should have a point here,” said Lundqvist. “But we’ll have another chance against them in a couple days when we play them up in Ottawa, so we’ll have to bounce back with a better game.”

Friday, December 3, 2010

ShareThis•Henrik Lundqvist turned aside all 17 shots he faced to post his fourth shutout of the season and 28th of his career, improving to 11-9-1 overall and 3-5-1 at home. Lundqvist has now registered three career shutouts vs. the Islanders, and is 19-9-5 with a 2.12 goals against average in 34 career regular season appearances.

From Rangers Report:

Henrik Lundqvist:

“There’s nothing better than winning for your confidence, and when you win back-to-back, guys feel great. Two different games, but four points, so we can win in different types of games, which is important moving forward. It’s hard not to feel great when you’re winning.”

On the 7-0 record on second nights:

“I think a big thing is maybe if you feel a little tired and beat up, you keep the game simple. I think a lot of the back-to-back games we’ve kept the game very simple for ourselves, just chip away and wait for our chances and minimize mistakes. That’s what you have to do. It’s hard to feel 100 percent when you played last night. That’s really tough. But you have to use what you’ve got. If you’re tired and beat up, use the boards and keep it simple. I think that’s been our biggest thing.”

“We played very solid defensively. I think both teams felt like they wanted a solid performance. (Thursday) was a little bit all over the place. You could tell they were a little more in control as well. Like I said before, it’s about winning for us. So we don’t have to put on a show back at home. We knew sooner or later we’d get our chance to score.

“Great win coming back from (Thursday) and we learned a lesson from (that).”

On not seeing the puck very often:

“As long as you keep the zero on the scoreboard you feel confident, you feel good. But if they score two early and then you don’t see the puck for another 10 minutes, that might be tough sometimes. I got to feel the puck a few times during the game and made the saves so I stayed positive.”

Thursday, December 2, 2010

ShareThis* Henrik Lundqvist entered the contest at 12:30 of the second period, and stopped nine of 11 shots to improve to 10-9-1 overall with an 8-4-0 record on the road. Tonight was Lundqvist’s sixth career relief appearance, and first since Oct. 19, 2009 vs. San Jose. It was his second career win in a relief appearance, having posted a 5-4 shootout win vs. Buffalo on Mar. 27, 2006, entering the contest at the start of the third period and stopping all eight shots faced through 25 minutes and three-of-three in the shootout.

From The Blueshirts Blog:

“The game just changed so many times during the 60 minutes,” said Lundqvist, the winning goalie after making nine saves on 11 shots. “We started off well, then they take over, then something happens. Just so many things happened to change the momentum. It was a weird (game) to play. The last two games we’ve played here have just been pinball games in front of the net. I don’t know why. It just happens. The thing you have to do is just battle and try to get the bounces.”